Bollywood Buzz

Salman Khan will no longer present Filmistaan

Nitin Kakkar’s project, ‘Filmistaan’, which has won accolades in the film festival circuit, was going to be presented by Salman Khan’s production house, Being Filmi Productions. After winning rave reviews in film fests such as the 17th Busan International Film Festival, the film was picked up by UTV and Shringar Films for distribution. The film was initially slated to release on March 21, but soon Salman Khan watched the film and expressed interest in presenting it. Due to this development, its release date was pushed ahead to May 23.

Now the latest buzz has it that Salman’s production house is not presenting the film. If sources are to be believed, there are two reasons behind the deal falling through. “Given Salman’s commitments — he is currently busy shooting in Poland for the film, ‘Kick’ — his involvement would mean postponing the film’s release yet again. Another reason is the fact that Salman had suggested some changes in the film’s marketing strategy in order to make it more commercially viable, but the makers didn’t agree to these. The difference of opinion also made Salman disassociate himself from the film,” says a source.

Starring actor and dialogue writer Sharib Hashmi in the lead role, Filmistaan tells the story of an aspiring Indian actor who gets abducted and then meets a Pakistani national, who deals in pirated Hindi films. Winner in the best Hindi film category at the 60th National Film Awards, the movie attempts to strike a chord with the audience through humour. Its trailer will be unveiled on April 18 when ‘2 States’ will hit the big screen.

Director Nitin Kakkar says, “I just got word that Salman Khan’s production house is no longer presenting my film. I have no clue why the deal didn’t work out; the film was supposed to release on March 21, but it was postponed to May 23, because Salman was in talks with UTV to present the film. Now the film is going to release on June 6.”
Interestingly, in 2011, Salman had supported Vikas Bahl’s film, ‘Chillar Party’. Spokespersons of UTV and Salman Khan’s production house remained unavailable for comment.